Getting Started with Document Workflow Automation

Paper documents can be hard to organize and store and processing them manually can lead to misfiling and loss. By using digital technology, everyday tasks can become streamlined, leading to many benefits for your company. The first step towards automating your processes is to identify where the biggest benefits can be realized.

The Benefits of Automation

Employees spend many hours each week completing every day, repetitive, tasks. During this process, it’s easy for errors to be made – equating to loss of time and money. For some tasks, especially in paper-heavy departments, turning to digital automation can dramatically streamline the way you do business, and add to your bottom line.

Automated tasks reduce the possibility for human error and can be completed more quickly. Additionally, digitally automated tasks can be better tracked for auditing and regulatory purposes. By better monitoring your business, you can better manage it, with the effects trickling down to every department.

Getting Started

Getting started involves identifying those tasks which would benefit most from automation. Typically, these will be paper-heavy tasks, such as in accounting or HR. A Managed Print Services provider may be able to help you quickly identify those processes that are bogging down your business the most, so you can target these areas first.

Once these tasks are identified, they need to be further broken down:

What type of documents are you processing, and what format do they take? (i.e. paper, pdf, word file)

How are your documents currently stored, and do you want to change this?

What is the volume of documents that needs to be processed each week?

How are documents be distributed, and to whom? (i.e. email, fax, paper report)

What does your current technology look like and are you looking to upgrade?

How much data entry is required?

Do you want the process to be fully automated? Partially-automated tasks can be more cost-efficient.

Are there requirements, such as auditing or regulatory issues, that are attached to this process?